This Sunday marks the tenth anniversary of the attack against America by al-Qaeda that forever changed our world. This Sunday we could talk about how our lives have changed since the attacks happened. We could debate the motivation behind the attacks. We could discuss how al-Qaeda has adapted since the U.S. military killed their leader, Osama bin Laden earlier this year. We could even discuss the recent rumors about an al-Qaeda plot to commit another attack today. Instead, let’s push the more cerebral issues aside, and let’s do what we would do if we were sitting together today in a comfortable place, perhaps your mom’s living room, or your grandmother’s front porch. Share your story with us. Where were you September 11, 2011? What were you doing when you found out about the attacks? Did you see the events unfold on television, or were you there in New York, Shanksville, or Washington DC? Did you see it happen live, or did you find out about it later? Please tell us your stories in the comments below or on our Facebook page.
On Monday, September 10th, I was fired from a coffee shop kiosk in downtown Jacksonville because my boss found out that I had been hired to work with the Downtown Ambassadors, and I was going to be quitting the coffee shop in October. I had never been fired before, and I was depressed, so I crashed at my Mom’s apartment that night. The next morning, she decided that she was going to get me out of my slump by making breakfast, and dragging me out of bed at 8:30. She forced me to sit up on the couch, and watch The Today Show while she poured me a cup of coffee and gave me eggs and bacon. She had just sat down when the report started coming in that the first plane had hit.
I watched it in a fog, as if it was just a movie. It didn’t really sink in what was happening until my Mom started getting upset. Before the second plane had hit the tower she was screaming that we were under attack. I think that my Mom being so upset made me hold my emotions in while my step-dad and I were trying to calm her down. By the time that she calmed down the news was showing the footage of the people escaping from the towers, and the people who were jumping. That’s when I realized how bad it really was; that they were in such a horrendous situation that people were willing to choose certain death over staying in there. I’ll never get that out of my head.
I was living in Tallahassee at the time going to FSU.I was suppose to go to class that morning but the phone company was coming over to put a line in my room.So as the lady was installing the line,I was on my cell with my best friend Ladarrius…just our usual chit chat.I turned the tv on and saw that the first building on fire.Still really not knowing what was going on I tell my friend turn it to the news so he could see what was going on.And as I sat there watching….I said to him is that another plane.My jaw dropped as it went into second tower.Silence on the phone and in the room.The lady had stopped what she was doing as well.I don’t remember much else about that day from that point on…..but that I remember like it just happened.Up untill that point I had always heard my parents and grandparents say they remember the day MLK was shot or JFK and how they felt and was able to remember what and where they were.I never understood untill 9/11 what that was like.Now I do.
I was living in Statesboro, GA in an apartment. It was my Junior year of college. My roommate woke me up yelling and pounding on my door. She said they were attacking us. Half asleep I thought somebody had broken in and not sure what was going on. I followed her into the living room and a few minutes later as we stood there glued to the tv we watched live as the 2nd plane crashed into the tower. It was surreal. Scary. And, overwhelming. I went to my first class a little bit later. I remember not everyone knowing what had happened yet. It was a jogging class and we met outside that day to run. After that, classes were cancelled for the rest of the day.
I was living with my mother at the time after having nearly died having my son less than a month earlier. I was still very weak and obviously emotional as hell. I remember being on the phone with my son’s biological father (who was in a half way house at the time) with the TV on in the background. I happened to glance up and I saw one of the many replays of the second tower being hit. I began to sob and asked “What kind of world have I just brought a child into?” Even though Aidan was asleep, I picked him up just to hold and rock him and sing to him. To this day, it still amazes me that on August 15th I gave birth to this sweet, loving, and amazing child and that less than a month later, such hatred, destruction, and devastation could occur. My thoughts and prayers continue to be with those who died that day and those that responded to the crisis. God bless.
I was getting an insurance policy on my house. One person in the office mentioned a plane hitting one of the towers. I was thinking a little private plane. I was in my car listening on the radio and they mentioned another plane. I got to work and no one had heard anything, we turned on the TV to see the news. Being in retail we didnt have hardly any customers that day.
I know it was short and sweet, but it will be a day i will not forget.
9/11 2001 I was on campus at Florida State. In between classes I could sense something was up. At my next class they announced classes were being canceled … I immediately went home to my aunt and uncle’s where I lived and sat in front of the tv for hours watching the horrific footage, my heart pounding. It was unbelievable… I mourn for those who lost loved ones and am grateful to those who didn’t hesitate to help on that tragic day.
I was in my senior year of high school, in my first class of the day, American Government. My AP US History teacher came running in from the classroom next door and said to turn on the tv, the World Trade Center was just hit by an airplane. We started watching and I remember the news anchor assuring viewers that it was an accident and that officials were trying to determine what happened. Being the stupid teenagers that we were, we kinda joked a little about how somebody might not notice they were flying into a building. Minutes later we watched the second plane hit Tower 2. I don’t remember anybody talking very much after that. The bell rang and every student I saw was silently running for the next class. Not long after I arrived in my next class, the first collapse occurred. A few minutes later, most of the students in my class slowly started to gather in the center of the room, sobbing quietly and huddling together for comfort. Needless to say, we continued watching through the final collapse and the coverage of the Pentagon. We didn’t have any more class changes that day.
As I recall, I was at my parent’s house, waiting for my next semester of university to start. I lived in the UK at the time. I was in the kitchen making a cup of tea when my Mother shrieked and called for me to come into the living room. I walked through to watch the BBC had switched all it’s channels to the main news channel (not a good sign). They were watching the twin towers which had just been hit by planes and discussing the possible evacuation of the buildings when the commentary stopped. The first tower was collapsing. A minute or so later the second one failed as well. It took a further minute for the news anchor to say anything. My Mother grabbed a phone and called my Father.
I just sort of stood there watching the news, not quite able to process what I was watching.
I still feel a little unnerved thinking about it.
September 11,2001, I remember it like it was yesterday….I was just under 8months pregnant with my first child & 2wks shy of my 21st bday!! Laying on the couch resting before my doctors apointment,when my mother calls to tell me to turn on the news & to call & cancel my apointment & there it was,how horrifying!! All I could think of is all the people there & trying to wrap my head around what was going on & then my mind jumps to my brother who is in the Navy & wondering if he was ok!! My stress level was through the roof as was everyone elses, sitting there alone watching this,with no one to talk to,my mind was going a mile a minute,so concerned for the people & our country’s future (I’m a bit of a worry wort)!! My parents were set home from work early,so I wasn’t alone long,but it felt like an eternity!! A few hours after they came home I went into false labor, being scarred & having health issues to begin with & not to mention living 1hr away from the hospital, I freaked, so we called the doctor & she sent me to the hospital to labor & delivery!! Do to my health & the situation at hand they told me I was there for the duration of the pregnancy,so around 1.5 months,but my body didn’t want to wait that long,so after celebrating my 21st bday in the hospitol a day early the doctor’s rushed me in for an emergancy C-section at 2:30am the 23rd of September, my 21st bday!! I found out as I joined the many other families in the NICU,that 9/11 caused a record high in preemies,my daughter included!! September 11,2001 will forever be inbedded in my mind & the lives lost & the families scarred by this tragedy will always be on my heart, weather you were there,or just watching, we were all affected & I pray that one day we will all be free of this terrible nightmare!! God bless America & those who love & defend her!!
I was at my first office job in downtown Jacksonville working as a receptionist and in accounting. I was wearing grey pants, black heels, and a lavender tank top/turtle neck. I was going about my morning and one of the sales ladies in our department was listening to her radio, and she announced when the first plane hit. We didn’t think much of it until we heard about the second plane. After that, I don’t remember much except hardly no work was done. I would stamp the incoming mail and invoices “September 11, 2001” and I found myself just staring at that date for minutes on end- knowing I would never forget it. A few co-workers went to K Mart to buy a cheap TV to set up in the Vice President’s office and we camped out in there for most of the day. I remember one of my older co-workers turned to me (the youngest in the department) and said: “Are you watching? This is your history.” or something to that effect. My immediate supervisor was on a business trip in Atlanta and was constantly calling me to let me know how and when and if she would return home to Jacksonville via airplane. Some of us went upstairs throughout the day to watch the news on a larger TV and in the elevator, one of my co-workers said basically, “It’s Bin Laden.” That was the first time I ever heard his name. I remember it was either that afternoon, or one afternoon in the later week, that I was allowed to leave work early because my mother went to a spur-of-the-moment church service, and I wanted to go with her. I remember calling United Airlines to check on my Flight Attendant friend, to see if she was ok. Before I started this office job, earlier in the year (May)she had been guiding me in the process of becoming a Flight Attendant. I made it to my 2nd interview with United, but was not selected and that is the reason why I got an office job. Had I become a Flight Attendant, I would’ve immediately lost my job, because they began letting go the newest employees. At the church service that day, I had multiple friends come and tell me, “Thank God you didn’t become a Flight Attendant…”. That day at work, my mother was constantly calling me to make sure I was doing ok…and I couldn’t sleep for many nights because I felt heavy with grief and guilt for being alive…
I was in the 2nd or 3rd grade and it’s a lil blurry but we were at gym or music class and when we went back into the main classroom the teacher was watching it on tv. I was very young so i didn’t really understand what was going on until my mom came and got me and explained it. I was sad. I didn’t understand why people would do something so mean.
But I am thankful for those who have fought for this country and i’ll say a prayer for the families who lost their loved one on this day. They will always be missed
I was at work going through the normal routines of a Monday morning. The shock of just hearing about the first plane was unbelievable. A group of us from the office went to our supervisor’s office where there was a tv. We all watched in disbelief as the second plane struck. When I heard about the Pentagon & Flight 93 I was devastated since my upbringing was in the Washington DC/Western Maryland area. I know these places personally! My oldest son had been discharged from the Army a few months before the attacks and was also serving in the National Guard. Shortly after 9/11 he was deployed to Fort Bragg to provide support for the brave soldiers headed to Iraq. We will never forget.
I was probably the most oblivious person in America that morning. I was off work that day and in the midst of packing for an imminent move. I was listening to music as I packed and hadn’t turned on either the television or the radio. Toward noon, my boss called and asked if I could come in and sub for James, another employee. Glad for the extra money, I readily agreed. He then added, “James’ sister works at the World Trade Center.” I replied that I had no problem coming in for him but didn’t get what his sister’s place of employment had to do with anything. He paused slightly, then said, “Turn on your television.” That was my first inkling.
I hurried to work (which was an airport parking facility). My job was customer service, checking in customers who were departing or arriving. By the time I got there, I found out all flights had been grounded nationwide. Where usually we had scores (if not hundreds) of customers per shift, that day the place was a graveyard. The only customers who came in were those who’d paid out-of-state cabbies to drive them, some from hundreds of miles away. With no work to do, I spent the entire day watching the coverage. It’s still surreal.
September 11 started, for me, with a frantic call from my daughter who was at school. She told my husband and me to immediately turn on the radio and there had been an attack on the World Trade Center. We were in the car and knew nothing about how the world around us was changing. In shock, we stopped at Cracker Barrel. As we sat there trying to take it all in, we couldn’t help but notice how everyone in the restaurant was talking to each other, as if they were lifelong neighbors. In the end, we were thankful that we didn’t see the images as they were occurring, but later when most of the uncertainty of the day was gone. This is a day that we will always remember and will never forget the heroic actions of so many.
I am never on time for anything. My husband always says that I will be late for my own funeral! I was rushing into work, which at the time, was an insurance agency inside a Wal-Mart store, late as usual. My mom was blowing up my cell phone. I came through the automatic doors and ran right into the back of a woman that was standing motionless, staring at the televisions above the produce section. I said “excuse me” as I started to walk around her while I was also digging through my purse for the phone. I dropped it as I glanced up at the overhead screens. A reporter was standing with the World Trade Center behind him, smoke billowing from one of the buildings in the skyline, saying something about a plane in New York and at that moment the second plane struck the second tower. People were just stopping all around me and the lady I ran into reached out and touched my arm. We were complete strangers, in the middle of a Wal-Mart, and at that point, had each other by the arm. I said, “What is going on?” She said, “I don’t know.” I excused myself out of the crowd around me and made my way to my office. My co-workers were confused and trying to pull information up online. My mother called the office phone then and said, “Our country is under attack.” I thought to myself, no way Mom is right; this is some sort of mistake. Could Air Traffic Control make that huge of a mistake? My coworkers and I went back to the overhead screens when we heard the president’s voice. He confirmed my mother’s fear. Oh God, it was true. I wondered where everyone that I loved was and if they were safe. I began silently checking off everyone’s locations in my mind. My fiancée was out of town. My baby was at the daycare. My mom, my step-dad, and my brother were at home. Oh no, my sister works at the airport. Was this it or would there be another strike? And then the plane crashed into the Pentagon and the fear I already felt grew even more to shear panic. And I cried for the first of many times that day and in the following days, as I called loved ones, feared for the safety of every American, and wept for the lives already lost. I will never forget that day.